Man charged in crash that injured police bicyclist

Mequon driver accused of striking police bicyclist with van, then fleeing the scene

A 47-year-old Mequon man has been charged with second-offense drunken driving causing injury as well as hit and run injury after he allegedly ran into a Milwaukee police bicycle officer with his van last week.

According to a criminal complaint released Wednesday:

Milwaukee police officer Allan Tenhaken was conducting a field interview with a colleague at 1531 W. Vliet St. around 9 p.m. Sept. 15 when Vladimir Krivoshein drove past at high speed in a van. The side mirror struck Tenhaken, who was on his bicycle, in the chest. He spun around and fell. While the interviewee helped the officer up, Krivoshein fled from the scene.

Two other police officers heard the description of Krivoshein's van broadcast on the radio, saw the van a few minutes later in the 1200 block of N. Water St. and pulled it over.

From Krivoshein's lackluster performance on several sobriety tests, the officers suspected he was drunk and arrested him on an allegation of drunken driving.

The van had long scrapes, and the passenger side was missing a side mirror.

"The mirror that was found at the scene of the crash appeared to be the mirror which was missing from the passenger side of the defendant's van when it was stopped," the complaint states.

When searching the center console of the van, officers noticed a bottle of vodka that was two-thirds empty.

Toxicology tests to determine Krivoshein's blood-alcohol level are pending, but Krivoshein admitted during a police interrogation that he drank from the bottle at a bus or train station after he left his dry-cleaning business at 7 p.m. and again outside Potawatomi Bingo Casino.

"He stated that he did not know that he had hit anyone and did not remember seeing the police officer on a bike with a car pulled over," the complaint states. "However, he did say that the music in his van was turned up. He also said that the passenger side mirror had been on his van while he was driving. He did say that he thought he should not have been driving because he had been drinking."

Krivoshein has been convicted twice before of intoxicated driving - in 1995 and 1998.

Tenhaken suffered abrasions to his face, torso, leg and right arm and a large bruise above his right elbow. He was taken to Froedtert Hospital for treatment, and still complained of severe back pain the next day.

Miller Compressing owner John Busby and Ald. Bob Donovan's Operation Impact have combined to make donations to bicycle officers. Busby is donating $10,000 and Operation Impact $3,000 to provide special lights and replace Tenhaken's bike, which was destroyed in the crash.